City Allows Used-Car Dealerships at Center

Paving the way for Team Car Sales to set up shop in Ventura, the City Council unanimously approved an amendment to a city ordinance to allow used-car dealerships to operate at the Ventura Auto Center.

The new amendment would also allow dealerships to rent cars--but only as a secondary use.

The current ordinance, adopted in 1987, allows only new-car dealerships to conduct business in the area. Those dealers may sell used cars or accessories to repair used cars, but their principal business must be the sale of new automobiles.

City planner Mark Stephens told the council that the Budget used-car outlet can be expected to generate up to $200,000 in sales tax revenue annually.

City officials explained that the new amendment will bring the auto center into line with nationwide changes in the auto industry. In recent years, as the cost of new cars has risen, the used-car business has become upgraded and more corporate, city officials said.

“We are not the prototypical used-car dealer that everyone thinks about,” said Brian Britton, vice president for the western region of Team Car Sales Inc.

Britton said the dealership will sell everything you would find in a rental fleet--from Ford Fiestas to Saabs.

Trying to allay fears that the auto center might be overrun by used-car dealerships, city officials explained to the council that any used-car dealer wanting to open a business in the area would still need to apply to the city for a use permit.

Of the current dealers at the auto center, only Crown Dodge expressed opposition to the amendment.

Britton said his used-car dealership would not be in direct competition with the new-car dealers, because new-car buyers are not typically the same people who shop for used cars.

The new dealership is scheduled to open in mid-June, officials said.